Rating that represents the status along a specified driving route

ABSTRACT

A rating is calculated that represents the traffic conditions of a specified driving route that includes at least one road. The driving route is specified by selecting an initial road, selecting a road entry point from which to get on the initial road, selecting a road exit point on which to get off the initial road, and specifying whether the road exit point is the end of the driving route. If the road exit point is not the end of the driving route, another road exit point is selected The above-mentioned steps are then repeated until the road exit point is the end of the driving route. Traffic conditions are then obtained for that driving route and a rating is calculated based on the traffic conditions.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/376,731filed Mar. 15, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,203,595 which is incorporatedherein by reference.

This patent application is related to previously filed U.S. applicationSer. No. 11/376,715 filed Mar. 15, 2006, entitled “Method of displayingtraffic information on a web page.”

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Currently, when information about traffic on a road or series of roadsis communicated in commercial broadcasts, written traffic reports oreven in casual conversation, terms such as ‘jammed’, ‘bottled up’,‘moderate’ and ‘heavy’ are often used. These terms provide little or nospecific information to the listener or viewer. Terms such as these areimprecise in that they simply express that traffic is not traveling atthe maximum potential speed for the road. Additionally, terms such asthese are very subjective. What one person might describe as ‘moderate’,another person might describe as ‘jammed’ based on their frame ofreference. Yet, most people would agree that ‘moderate’ and ‘jammed’ arenot equivalent descriptions of traffic conditions. What is needed is anobjective, precise, quantitative way to express information about thelevel of traffic so that a listener or viewer of that rating will havean understanding of the meaning of that information and that theinformation will be useful to them.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A rating is calculated that represents the traffic conditions of aspecified driving route that includes at least one road. The drivingroute is specified by selecting an initial road, selecting a road fromwhich to get on the initial road, selecting a road on which to get ofthe initial road, and specifying whether the road on which to get offthe road is the end of the driving route. If the road on which to getoff the road is not the end of the driving route, another road isselected on which to get off that road. The above-mentioned steps arethen repeated until the road on which to get off the road is the end ofthe driving route. Traffic conditions are then obtained for that drivingroute and a rating is calculated based on the traffic conditions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description ofpreferred embodiments of the invention, will be better understood whenread in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose ofillustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings embodimentswhich are presently preferred. It should be understood, however, thatthe invention is not limited to the precise arrangements andinstrumentalities shown.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows generic examples of Jam Factors for various trafficsituations.

FIG. 2 shows specific examples of Jam Factors for the commute segmentI-76 from the PA Turnpike to the Walt Whitman Bridge.

FIG. 3 a shows the user interface display screen for selecting a drivename and metro (metropolitan) area.

FIG. 3 b shows the user interface display screen for selecting astarting roadway.

FIG. 3 c shows the user interface display screen for selecting start andend points on starting road.

FIG. 3 d shows the user interface display screen for selecting acontinuation to a connecting roadway.

FIG. 3 e shows the user interface display screen for selecting to end acommute.

FIG. 3 f shows the user interface display screen for viewing drives andoverall Jam Factor for those drives.

FIG. 3 g shows the user interface display screen for viewing the JamFactor (item 10) for the individual roadway sections along a specificpreviously created drive. Additionally, the display also shows incidents(item 20) on the individual roadway sections.

FIG. 4 a shows the Magnet Product Page which a user will see when theyfirst access the magnet website (or are not logged in).

FIG. 4 b shows a screenshot of the pages of the Traffic Magnetregistration page where user information is entered.

FIG. 4 c shows a screenshot of the Traffic Magnet registration page thatdisplays the User Agreement and Privacy Policy.

FIG. 4 d shows an example of a magnet on the maintenance page.

FIG. 4 e shows a screenshot of the magnet creation page where userinformation is entered.

FIG. 4 f shows a screenshot of the magnet creation page where the formatof the magnet is selected.

FIG. 5 shows examples of the layouts of a horizontal magnet and avertical magnet.

FIG. 6 shows some of the different styles of magnets available to theuser.

FIG. 7 shows the database schema for the Traffic Magnet data.

FIG. 8 shows a Data Flow Diagram for the user interface for the creationof a Traffic Magnet.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Certain terminology is used herein for convenience only and is not to betaken as a limitation on the present invention. In the drawings, thesame reference letters are employed for designating the same elementsthroughout the several figures.

The present invention is described in the context of two services,namely, TrafficMagnets™ and Jam Factor™ reports, both of which arecommercially available from Traffic.com, Wayne, Pa. However, the scopeof the present invention includes other embodiments that may differ fromthe specific implementations provided by the TrafficMagnets and JamFactor reports. The present invention is also preferably designed towork in conjunction with systems and methods described in copending U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/611,494 filed on Jun. 30, 2003, entitled“Method of Creating a Virtual Traffic Network,” which is herebyincorporated by reference. However, the scope of the invention includesembodiments that do not necessarily incorporate the methods andapparatus described in this patent application.

I. Overview of Jam Factor Rating

The jam factor of a route is a value between 0 and 10 which indicatesthe ease of travel along the route. All clear would be a number towards0, and completely jammed/stopped would be a number towards 10. JamFactor calculations will be done primarily through delays (from freeflow travel).

Determining delay for a digital route is done through sensor values. Fora non-digital route, the delay is calculated through the incidents alongthe route. For routes which contain both digital and non-digitalsections, separate calculations are done for each section and the finaldelays are added together.

Any road closure along the route will automatically create a Jam Factorof 10.

II. Calculations of Jam Factor Rating

1. Delay for Digital Routes:

The delay is calculated from the real-time sensor values. If there areany problems determining the delay from the sensors (sensors are nolonger working, data is determined to be invalid), then the non-digitalcalculations are used for this route. Also, traffic items are stillchecked to determine if there is a road closure. Otherwise, trafficitems are ignored for digital routes.

${DigitalDelay} = {\frac{RouteLength}{SensorSpeed} - \frac{RouteLength}{SpeedLimit}}$In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the delay is neverexpressed as a negative number. Thus, if traffic is moving faster thanthe speed limit, the delay is reported as being zero.2. Delay for non-Digital Routes:

Delay for non-digital routes is calculated through the traffic itemsthat occur along the route. There are two separate delays that arecalculated, one for the congestion items and one for high criticalityitems which are not attributed (or linked) to a congestion item.

a. Congestion Delay:

Each congestion item will have a type associated with it which describesthe level of congestion seen along the road. These congestion types willmap to an estimated average speed, allowing a travel time to becalculated for the length of the congestion. Individual congestiondelays will then be determined by calculating the difference between thefree flow travel time and the congestion travel time. The totalcongestion delay will be the sum of all the individual congestion itemdelays.CongestionTT=CongItemLength/CongItemSpeedFreeFlowTT=CongItemLength/RouteSpeedLimit

${CongestionDelay} = {\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{\#\mspace{14mu}{congitems}}\;\left( {{CongestionTT}_{i} - {FreeFlowTT}_{i}} \right)}$

TABLE 1 Congestion Speeds (based upon 60 mph roads): Congestion TypeSpeed (mph) Stopped 2 Jammed 10 Generally Jammed 20 Slow 30 GenerallySlow 40 Sluggish 48Note: For roads with speed limits other than 60 mph, the congestionspeeds will be adjusted according to the same percentages.b. Incident Delay:

Incidents must be taken into account when there are no correspondingcongestion items linked to them. A value will be looked up in a tablethat matches incident attributes with assumed delays. In one preferredembodiment, only the criticality of the incident is taken into account.All incidents that have a child congestion item will be ignored sincethey should already be accounted for by the congestion calculationabove.

${IncidentDelay} = {\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{\#\mspace{14mu}{items}}\;\left( {Delay}_{i} \right)}$

The following table may be used to map the criticalities of incidents toan estimated delay.

TABLE 2 Criticality Delays: Criticality Delay (min) 0 20 1 10 2 5 3 23. Jam Factor:

The Jam Factor is determined by first comparing the estimated traveltime to the free flow travel time. This comparison is referred to as theDelay Multiple.

${DelayMultiple} = \frac{{FreeFlowTT} + {TotalDelay}}{FreeFlowTT}$where:FreeFlowTT=KR _(—) Length/SpeedLimit

This Delay Multiple can be directly associated to the Jam Factor by anexponential equation where the Jam Factor equals 0 when the delaymultiple equals 1 (no delay) and the Jam Factor approaches 10 as thedelay multiple grows very large. A set of logical plot points along thecurve was determined to create a graph of Jam Factor vs. Delay Multiple.Linear interpolation can then be used to determine the jam factor whenthe delay multiple lies between the plot points.

Below is a table of delay multiples with expected Jam Factors.

TABLE 3 Jam Factor Points: Speed Point Delay Based on 60 mph # MultipleJam Factor limit 1 1 0 60 2 1.25 3 48 3 1.5 5 40 4 1.75 6 34.2 5 2 7 306 3 8 20 7 8 9 7.5 8 32 10 2

To calculate the Jam Factor for a specific delay multiple, the followingequation is sued (which utilizes the two points that the delay multiplefalls between):

-   -   prev=point preceding the actual delay multiple    -   next=point following the actual delay multiple

${JamFactor} = {{\frac{{JamFactor}_{next} - {JamFactor}_{prev}}{{DelayMultiple}_{next} - {DelayMuliple}_{prev}}*\left( {{DelayMultiple}_{actual} - {DelayMultiple}_{next}} \right)} + {JamFactor}_{next}}$

FIG. 1 shows generic examples of Jam Factors for various trafficsituations.

FIG. 2 shows specific examples of Jam Factors for the commute segmentI-76 from the PA Turnpike to the Walt Whitman Bridge.

III. Creating and Viewing a Jam Factor Rating

FIGS. 3 a through 3 g describe the process of creating a drive andviewing a Jam Factor for that drive. These figures are self-explanatoryand thus will be described only briefly.

FIG. 3 a shows the user interface display screen for selecting a drivename and metropolitan area.

FIG. 3 b shows the user interface display screen for selecting astarting roadway.

FIG. 3 c shows the user interface display screen for selecting start andend points on starting road.

FIG. 3 d shows the user interface display screen for selecting acontinuation to a connecting roadway.

FIG. 3 e shows the user interface display screen for selecting to end acommute.

FIG. 3 f shows the user interface display screen for viewing drives andoverall Jam Factor for those drives.

FIG. 3 g shows the user interface display screen for viewing the JamFactor (item 10) for the individual roadway sections along a specificpreviously created drive. Additionally, the display also shows incidents(item 20) on the individual roadway sections.

IV. Overview of a Traffic Magnet

A Traffic Magnet is a snippet of programming code that allows an enduser to include live traffic information on their web site and providesa link from their site to a remote site containing the trafficinformation, such as Traffic.com. A remote site is defined as an entityother than the internet or intranet content provider.

Placing a Traffic Magnet on a web site allows the end user to providelive traffic information about the roads surrounding the end user'sphysical location to users of their web site who will travel to or fromthat physical location. Additionally, having such links embedded in manyweb sites provide benefits to the remote site (here, Traffic.com), suchas driving internet traffic to the remote website, increasing brandawareness of the remote site, and improving search engine ranking of theremote site (when done using embedded HTML).

One preferred embodiment of a web-based Traffic Magnet product allowsTraffic.com users to configure the magnet by selecting up to fourroadways to track (in both directions), and one of several backgrounds.Configuration occurs through a web interface. Registration is preferablyrequired for access to this interface. The output of the product is asnippet of HTML/Javascript that the user paste into their web page.Traffic information in the magnet will be provided on a Route basis. Asingle magnet will show several Routes but they must all belong to thesame metropolitan area. Traffic.com may have the ability limit thenumber of magnets a user can create, but most likely there would not bea limit unless users abused the service. The terms and conditions mayinclude a clause about users not abusing the service.

Backwards compatibility-magnets may have some static links which need toremain functional. Also, it is possible for the magnets to containhardcoded route ID's. If they do, these keyroutes must not be deletedand the ID's must not be changed.

Tracking and Reporting site traffic-A users magnets will be stored inthe database. By attaching this magnet ID or user ID to all the inboundlinks, Traffic.com can track the traffic generated by specific users.

V. Specifications for a Traffic Magnet

The Traffic magnet project can be separated into two distinctcomponents: (1) Traffic Magnet registration / maintenance, and (2)Traffic Magnet generation.

1. Traffic Magnet Registration/Maintenance

The user interface for creating traffic magnets is preferably web based,and located at http://magnet.traffic.com.

FIG. 4 a shows the Magnet Product Page which a user will see when theyfirst access the magnet website (or are not logged in). This page willshow examples of the various magnets that they can create for theirwebsite. From this page, a user can register for the service, or loginif they have already registered.

a. Registration

FIGS. 4 b and 4 c show the registration page. The following data will berequested from the user:

TABLE 4 User Registration Information: First Name Optional. Last NameOptional. User Name Required. 6-12 characters Password Required. 6-12characters E-mail Address Required. Company Name Optional. Phone NumberOptional. Street Address 1 Optional. Street Address 2 Optional. CityOptional. State Optional. Zip Code Optional.

The user must enter in the required fields, and also agree to the termsand conditions for using the magnet service, in order to create anaccount. The data entered is saved in the traffic_user table in thedatabase. The user creation date is also saved to verify when the usersigned up and agreed to the terms and conditions. FIG. 7 shows thedatabase schema.

After the user successfully creates an account, they can then log intothe system with their newly created username and password.

b. Magnet Maintenance

FIG. 4 d shows an example of a magnet on the maintenance page. After auser is logged in, they will be forwarded to the magnet maintenance pagewhere they will see a list of their previously created magnets. Theactual magnets will be displayed, along with a text block containing themagnet code snippet and a button to delete the magnet. Users will not beable to edit a magnet. If they want to change a magnet style, or thekeyroutes associated with a magnet, they will need to delete it andcreate a new one.

c. Magnet Creation

After logging in, a user will also be able to create a new magnet. Thestyle of the magnet will determine the magnet size. Each magnet stylehas a standard size (e.g., 410×285 horizontal, 200×605 vertical).

Information on magnet styles will be contained in the database (Refer toFIG. 7 for the database schema). The styles will define the layout,background, orientation and color scheme of the magnet. A user willselect from one of these styles when creating their magnet. Thefollowing fields will be needed to define a magnet style.

TABLE 5 Fields Defining Magnet Style Magnet Magnet Style Name Name ofMagnet Position H (Horizontal) or V (Vertical) Image Example Image FileName Width Width of the magnet Height Height of the magnet VelocityTemplate Template defining the html style and format for this magnet

Magnets will also contain links to the website, promotions,advertisements, etc. This information can be different betweenmetropolitan areas and may be updated at random times. It will beseparated into two sections on the magnets. Each section will have itsown html. The users have no control over this information. The followingdata needs to be stored in the database to create these html blocks.

TABLE 6 Data for Creation of HTML Blocks Magnet HTML MetroId Metro Id ofmagnets that link will show up on Magnet HTML 1 HTML to be displayed inthe first section Magnet HTML 2 HTML to be displayed in the secondsection

The user will be shown examples of magnets during creation in order to)select the style they want for their website. (Note: terms of servicemust outline proper use of magnet. e.g. magnet can only exist at domainon one (1) page, etc.)

FIGS. 4 e and 4 f show screenshots of the magnet creation page. Thefollowing information needs to be captured for each magnet that the usercreates. This data not only defines the user's magnet, but also gives usmore information to be used to better track how the magnet is beingused. The user will be allowed to select up to four roads for a magnet(which will equate to eight routes, when direction is taken intoaccount). Although a user may create magnets for different metropolitanareas, an individual magnet will only be applicable to a singlemetropolitan area.

TABLE 7 Information captured for each magnet a user creates User MagnetCompany Name Optional. Industry Optional. Home Page Address Required.Traffic Page Address Required. Magnet Description Required. Magnet StyleName Required. Metro Id Required. Route Id 1 Required Route Id 2Optional Route Id 3 Optional Route Id 4 Optional

After a user creates their magnet, they will be directed back to themagnet maintenance page where they can see their new magnet. They willalso have access to the code snippet to include the magnet on theirwebsite.

d. Traffic Magnet Creation Use Cases

TABLE 8 Steps - User registers for a magnet account UC01 Use Case 1 Userregisters for a magnet account Step User Action Result Figure Alternate1 User goes to User sees FIG. 2a N/A magnet.traffic.com Magnet ProductPage 2 User Clicks on “Sign Up Go to FIG. 2b & Now” button registration2c page 3 User Enters Values defined User is now standard in 0 andsubmits form registered error

TABLE 9 Steps - User logs into magnet account UC02 Use Case 2 User logsinto magnet account Assumes user has registered and verified emailaddress Step User Action Result Figure Alternate 1 User clicks on“Login” link Go to login N/A page 2 User enters name and Go to magnetStandard password and clicks submit maintenance error page

TABLE 10 Steps - Registered User Creates a Traffic Magnet UC03 Use Case3 Registered User Creates a Traffic Magnet Assumes user has registeredand logged in explicitly during this session. Step User Action ResultFigure Alternate 1 Chooses to create magnet Go to magnet FIG. 2e & N/Aset up page 2f 2 Enter Company, Site N/A standard information error Thisinformation is required. Alternate processing is standard error handlingfor these elements. 3 Enter Magnet Values N/A standard error Userselects metro area, which populates keyroute list. User can select up to4 keyroutes (Javascript validation), and one background image. 4 ConfirmLegal N/A standard Agreement error User is required to check on “Agree”radio button. 5 User selects ‘continue’ Go to Magnet FIG. 2d MaintenenceMagnet maintenance page gives user some indication about how to use htmlsnippet and provides code in a scrolling text pane. User has to copyHTML in order to paste into their page.

VI. Traffic Magnet Generation

Traffic magnets are displayed through a code snippet that a user placeson their website. The code snippet will contain links to javascriptfiles located on the traffic.com servers, as well as some static html.The javascript files will be auto generated on a regular basis so that auser is accessing a static file. The traffic magnets will contain linksback to specific areas on the www.traffic.com website. All links andimages in the magnet will have a referral id to track statistics onmagnets. HTML provided will be standards compliant and valid, with allstyling accomplished through the use of inline CSS.

a. Example Magnets

FIG. 5 shows examples of the layouts of a horizontal magnet and avertical magnet.

b. Magnet Content

A Magnet will be applicable to a single metropolitan area and willcontain information on one to four routes. Each route section of themagnet may contain any or all of the following information:

-   -   Roadway Name and Direction    -   Roadway Shield (if applicable to the road)—Four different shield        types (U.S. state, interstate, county) with the road number        overlaid on top.    -   Incident Icon—Triangle with the number of incidents along route        inside. The triangle border will be colored red if there are any        high criticality incidents, and yellow if there are any medium        criticality incidents.    -   Jam Factor—Visual representation of route conditions, equating        to a number between 0 and 10.

The magnet will also contain the following information: Metro Name,Timestamp of route data, and two sections for metropolitan specificadvertisements and links.

c. One Preferred Embodiment for Generating Magnets

The process for generating magnets needs to be a compromise betweenflexibility, security and scalability. One preferred solution is to useJavascript as the main piece of the code snippet that the user pastes ontheir webpage. This is not as scalable as using straight HTML code, butgives much more flexibility to change the content of the magnet withoutaffecting the user's website. It also makes it more difficult for theuser to try and modify the look of the magnet (which should be aviolation of the Terms and Conditions). The downside to this solution isthat it will not improve the search engine ranking. To try and overcomethe search engine ranking problem, some static html must be included inthe magnet code snippet which refers back to the traffic.com website.

The javascript will be contained in files on traffic.com servers, andthe users code snippet will simply point to the proper files for therespective magnet. The javascript will be generated in two parts. Onepart will generate the user's magnet code in a file named magnet.js. Theother part will generate the code for each route section of the magnetin files named keyroutedetails.js. A single magnet code snippet willthen point to one magnet.js file (which will include references to theapplicable keyroutedetails.js files).

Since the user cannot directly manipulate the Javascript code,Traffic.com can enforce that each link on the magnet will containinformation identifying the magnet user. This will allow Traffic.com toeasily track the traffic coming from each user/magnet through the Apacheweb logs.

i. Route Information Generation

Route information will be pre-generated every two minutes for each knownroute in the metro area. The process will create a javascript file(keyroutedetails.js) and an incident icon (incident.gif) for everyroute. This information will be shared by all magnets which contain thesame route. The keyroutedetails.js file will contain methods forretrieving the timestamp and jam factor for a route. The incident iconwill be an image file determined through the incidents along the route.The two generated files will be placed on the magnet.traffic.com serverin a location similar tokeyroutes/metro<metroid>/keyroute<routeid>_<route-direction>. The textin between “<>” is text that is replaced by real data during processing.

The incident icon is chosen from an incident image repository based uponthe current incidents along the route. The image repository will containall of the possible variations of incident icons (icons with yellow, redand clear borders as well as numbers from 0-9 inside). The proper imageis selected by counting the number of incidents along the route (whichdetermines the number) and finding the highest criticality incident(which determines the border, red for high criticality and yellow formedium criticality). The image file is renamed to incident.gif whenmoved to the route directory defined above.

The javascript file will contain a method for getting the timestamp ofthe data (getTime) and two methods to create the jam factor image(getVertJamFactor<routeid> for vertical magnets andgetHorizJamFactor<routeid> for horizontal magnets). The jam factor imageis created by using a static image for the multi-colored background barand having 11 different rectangular slider bar locations for eachinteger from 0-10. The left most location will be 0, and the right most10. The jam factor value will be truncated to one decimal place andshown on the rectangular slider. The slider location is determined bythe whole number value of the jam factor. The slider color also changeswith different locations.

ii. Magnet Information Generation

The magnet Javascript file will be pre-generated on an as-needed basis.All active magnets will be created when the magnet generation processstarts. After the initial creation pass, the process will check for allmagnets labeled as “dirty” to recreate. A magnet may be labeled as dirtywhen:

-   -   Magnet is created    -   Magnet is deleted    -   Route changes are made to the system, affecting specific route        ID's    -   Design for a style changes    -   Magnet html for a metro changes.

Magnet information consists of the magnet.js file and symbolic linkspointing to the route directory (created by the process noted above) foreach route in the magnet. This information is placed in a locationsimilar to magnets/metro<metroid>/<userid>/<magnetid>.js. The symboliclinks hide the actual location of the keyroute information so userscannot easily find and use content outside of their magnet definition.When a magnet is deleted, the symbolic links are broken and a “deleted’version of the magnet.js file is created. In this manner, the user nolonger has access to any of the information.

FIG. 6 shows some of the different styles of magnets available to theuser. Magnet style templates are saved in the database and used togenerate the magnet.js file. There are multiple styles that the user canchoose from for displaying the selected route content. The user choosesa style for each magnet. The user also selects the routes which willappear on the magnet. When a magnet is generated, the style template ispulled from the database and the selected routes are used to create theroute sections. The route name, direction, ID, shield type and roadwaynumber are all needed by the template.

The real-time parts of the magnet are the timestamp, the jam factor foreach route, and the incident icon for each route. The content of themagnet javascript file changes very infrequently, but will still containreal-time data by calling methods on the above-generatedkeyroutedetails.js files. The jam factor method called will bedetermined by the magnet orientation (horizontal/vertical) and routeID's. For example, the method getHorizJamFactor456 ( ) will be used for,route 456 in a horizontal magnet. The time is retrieved by callinggetTime ( ) which exists in each keyroutedetails.js file and should havethe same time for all routes in a metro. The incident icon(incident.gif) for each route, which changes with the keyroutedetails.jsfile, is included in the magnet through the symbolic link paths.

d. Alternative Embodiment for Generating Magnets

In another embodiment of the present invention, only traffic conditionsare requested from the remote site. In this embodiment, the userretrieves all of the code in the snippet needed to assemble the magnet,and the dynamic pieces of the magnet (traffic data), via XML. Instead ofthe code snippet being a link to a javascript file, it is a snippet ofhtml and javascript which creates the entire magnet, minus the real timetraffic data. The traffic data (and only the traffic data) can then bedownloaded on a regular basis from the Traffic.com web site to fill inon the magnet. The XML can be generated as a separate file for eachmetropolitan area containing the real-time data for the metropolitanarea keyroutes.

VII. Data Flow Diagram for the User Interface

FIG. 8 shows a Data Flow Diagram for the user interface. The steps inthe diagram are explained as follows:

-   -   10. User specifically types in or is directed to the        magnet.traffic.com domain    -   20. The application checks if there are any browser cookies        available which specify that the user has already logged in.    -   30. If the login cookie exists, the user information is pulled        from the cookie and the user is directed to the magnet        maintenance page (See section V.1.b).    -   40. User selects to create a new magnet and is directed to the        magnet creation page to select the details of the new magnet        (See section V.1.c).    -   50. If magnet is successfully created, the user is redirected        back to the magnet maintenance page to see their new magnet and        the code snippet necessary to place on their website (the actual        magnet may take a few minutes before it can be seen on the page,        but the code snippet is available immediately).

If the magnet could not be created, the user is directed back to themagnet creation page (with all their selected values pre-filled) and amessage specifying which form field needs to be addressed to fix theproblem.

-   -   60. If the user is not logged in when going to        magnet.traffic.com, they will be directed to the magnet home        page (See section V.1).    -   70. If a user selects to register from the magnet home page,        they are directed to the registration sign up form (See section        V.1.a).    -   80. If there was an error during registration, the user is        redirected back to the registration page (with all their        selected values pre-filled) and a message specifying which form        field needs to be addressed to fix the problem.

If registration was successful, the user is redirected to the loginscreen to use their newly created username and password for entry intothe magnet website.

-   -   90. If a user has forgotten their password, they can enter their        username on this form and receive an email containing their        password.    -   100. The user can login from the home page by entering their        username and password into the proper fields.    -   110. If the login is successful, the user will be redirected to        the magnet maintenance page. If the login is not successful,        they will be redirected back to the login page and notified that        their username/password combination was incorrect.

VIII. Reporting Internet Traffic from Traffic Magnets

The necessary data for reporting internet traffic from traffic magnetsis collected and saved. Accordingly, statistics can be generated at anytime. There are two different sets of data being collected. One set isthe information collected when the user is maintaining their magnets andis saved in the database. The other set of data is the web trafficinformation related to the magnets and is collected through Apacheserver web logs. All URLs in the magnets contain a reference to thecurrent magnet, which not only allows Traffic.com to determine thenumber of times the magnet is loaded, but also which magnets are drivingtraffic back to the main website. All Apache web logs are saved off to aseparate server on a daily basis. These logs can be parsed by a Perlscript or Java process to retrieve necessary information. Tables 11-13;outline the requested reporting areas.

TABLE 11 Aggregate Data Aggregate Data: Grand Totals Total # of Accounts[db] # of Active Accounts (accessed in prior month) # of New Accounts(in prior month) [db] # of Deleted Accounts [db] Total # of Magnets [db]# of Active Magnets # of New Magnets [db] # of Deleted Magnets [db] # ofUnique Users across all Accounts/Magnets # of Accesses/Pageviews acrossall Accounts/Magnets # of Clickthroughs to www.traffic.com AggregateData: Metro Totals - same as Grand Totals but broken down by Metro

TABLE 12 Detailed Data for each Account/Magnet Detailed Data for eachAccount/Magnet: All Account and Magnet configuration info (Company, url,metro, Keyroute list, etc. [db] # of Unique Users per Magnet # ofAccesses/Pageviews per Magnet # of Clickthroughs to www.traffic.com

TABLE 13 Data for magnet.traffic.com web site Data formagnet.traffic.com web site # of UVs per Page (home page, signup, magnetsetup, etc.) # of Pageviews per Page Ideally: Clickstream data to givevisibility into where users go on the site (% who follow each link oneach page vs. leave the site)

Some of this information will be determined through the database. Therest will need to parsed from the Apache web logs. After parsing theApache web logs, the result data can either be stored in the database oremailed to a specific list of addresses.

The present invention may be implemented with any combination ofhardware and software. If implemented as a computer-implementedapparatus, the present invention is implemented using means forperforming all of the steps and functions described above.

The present invention can be included in an article of manufacture(e.g., one or more computer program products) having, for instance,computer useable media. The media has embodied therein, for instance,computer readable program code means for providing and facilitating themechanisms of the present invention. The article of manufacture can beincluded as part of a computer system or sold separately.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes could bemade to the embodiments described above without departing from the broadinventive concept thereof. It is understood, therefore, that thisinvention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but itis intended to cover modifications within the spirit and scope of thepresent invention.

1. A computer-implemented method of calculating a rating that representsthe traffic conditions of a specified driving route comprising: (a)specifying a driving route, such that the route includes at least oneroad, wherein specifying the driving route comprises: (i) selecting aninitial road; (ii) selecting a road entry point from which to get on theinitial road; (iii) selecting a road exit point on which to get off theinitial road; (iv) specifying whether the road exit point is the end ofthe driving route; (v) selecting another road exit point if the roadexit point is not the end of the driving route; and (vi) repeating steps(iv)-(v) until the road exit point is the end of the driving route; (b)obtaining the traffic conditions for that driving route; and (c)calculating a rating based on the traffic conditions.
 2. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the specified driving route is a keyroute, the keyroutebeing one or more road segments.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein theroute includes a plurality of roads.
 4. An article of manufacture forcalculating a rating that represents the traffic conditions of aspecified driving route, the article of manufacture comprising acomputer-readable medium encoded with computer-executable instructionsfor performing a method comprising: (a) specifying a driving route, suchthat the route includes at least one road, wherein specifying thedriving route comprises: (i) selecting an initial road; (ii) selecting aroad entry point from which to get on the initial road; (iii) selectinga road exit point on which to get off the initial road; (iv) specifyingwhether the road exit point is the end of the driving route; (v)selecting another road exit point if the road exit point is not the endof the driving route; and (vi) repeating steps (iv)-(v) until the roadexit point is the end of the driving route; (b) obtaining the trafficconditions for that driving route; and (c) calculating a rating based onthe traffic conditions.
 5. The article of manufacture of claim 4 whereinthe specified driving route is a keyroute, the keyroute being one ormore road segments.
 6. The article of manufacture of claim 4 wherein theroute includes a plurality of roads.
 7. A computer-implemented apparatusfor calculating a rating that represents the traffic conditions of aspecified driving route comprising: (a) means for specifying a drivingroute, such that the route includes at least one road, wherein the meansfor specifying the driving route comprises: (i) means for selecting aninitial road; (ii) means for selecting a road entry point from which toget on the initial road; (iii) means for selecting a road exit point onwhich to get off the initial road; (iv) means for specifying whether theroad exit point is the end of the driving route; (v) means for selectinganother road exit point if the road exit point is not the end of thedriving route; and (vi) means for repeating steps (iv)-(v) until theroad exit point is the end of the driving route; (b) means for obtainingthe traffic conditions for that driving route; and (c) means forcalculating a rating based on the traffic conditions.
 8. The apparatusof claim 7 wherein the specified driving route is a keyroute, thekeyroute being one or more road segments.
 9. The apparatus of claim 7wherein the route includes a plurality of roads.